Finland has become another example of what happens when ideology overtakes economic reality. According to a recent report, Finland’s construction sector is suffering severe unemployment, with the Construction Trade Union estimating that 17.5% of construction workers are now unemployed. Many have already exhausted the maximum 400 days of earnings-related unemployment benefits and have dropped onto lower levels of support. Yet almost simultaneously, there are renewed discussions about bringing in workers from outside the European Union to fill jobs in the construction industry.
The desperation in Finland’s labor market is becoming almost unbelievable. One comparison circulating widely captures just how severe conditions have become. Reports indicate that Finnish discount retailer Puuilo received roughly 21,000 applications for just 400 summer jobs, an acceptance rate of less than 2%. By comparison, admission rates to Finland’s medical schools reportedly range from roughly 2.8% at the most competitive universities to nearly 4% at the least competitive.
It has become statistically more difficult to land a seasonal retail job than to gain admission to medical school. Whether viewed as a symbol or a statistic, it reflects the same reality: the labor market has become so weak that even entry-level positions attract overwhelming demand. When thousands of qualified people are competing for temporary retail work while experienced construction workers remain unemployed, it becomes increasingly difficult to argue that the problem is a shortage of labor. The problem is a shortage of opportunity, brought about by years of economic mismanagement, high financing costs, and policies that have steadily undermined productive private-sector growth.
Nearly one out of every five Finnish construction workers cannot find employment. The construction sector has been battered by bankruptcies, collapsing housing demand, and rising interest rates. Employment in Finnish construction has fallen to roughly 176,800 workers, down sharply from the peak reached only a few years ago. Yet instead of asking why so many skilled Finnish workers remain unemployed, policymakers continue discussing labor imports.
At the same time, bankruptcies across Finland have climbed to their highest level since 1996, with the construction sector among the hardest hit as high interest rates, weak housing demand, and rising financing costs continue to cripple new development. Yet despite what many workers describe as the worst construction labor market in a generation, policymakers continue discussing the recruitment of labor from outside rather than first putting their own skilled workforce back to work. That disconnect is precisely why confidence in government continues to deteriorate.
This has become the standard political response across Europe. Governments insist there are labor shortages while their own citizens struggle to find work. The problem is often not an absolute shortage of workers but a mismatch created by economic policy. High interest rates have devastated residential construction across much of Europe. Finland’s own central bank acknowledges that housing construction remains in severe difficulty and that the labor market will stay weak well into 2027 despite hopes for a gradual recovery.
What governments refuse to acknowledge is that this is the direct consequence of years of policy failures. Europe embraced negative interest rates, encouraged debt-fueled property booms, and expanded government spending while simultaneously imposing environmental regulations, soaring energy costs, and endless bureaucracy. When inflation finally arrived, interest rates had to rise, and the very sectors that had been inflated by cheap money collapsed first. Construction always becomes one of the earliest casualties because it is extraordinarily sensitive to financing costs.
The numbers are becoming increasingly alarming. Finland’s unemployment rate has climbed into double digits, making it one of the highest in the European Union. Recent data showed around 290,000 unemployed people nationwide, while economists continue warning that job creation remains weak despite isolated signs of economic growth. Even the Finnish government expects unemployment to remain elevated throughout 2026 before any meaningful improvement begins.
Our models have long warned that Europe would face a prolonged period of economic stagnation accompanied by growing political unrest. Finland is now experiencing exactly that combination. Workers who spent decades paying taxes are watching opportunities disappear while policymakers debate importing additional labour. That is the type of policy disconnect that destroys confidence in government. History demonstrates that when citizens conclude their own governments place ideology ahead of the interests of their own workforce, political backlash inevitably follows. Europe is learning that lesson the hard way.
France is enduring one of its most intense heat waves in decades, with temperatures exceeding 40°C (104°F), schools forced to close, and public officials urging people to stay indoors. Yet what caught my attention was not the weather itself, but the response from the French government. Instead of asking why millions of French citizens remain without air conditioning, politicians are effectively telling people they should simply learn to live with the heat.
After years of climate policies discouraging air conditioning, France now finds itself with only about 27% of homes and roughly 13% of apartments equipped with cooling systems, compared to well over 90% of homes in the United States. The public has had enough, with polls showing nearly 80% of French citizens now support expanding air conditioning in homes, schools, hospitals, and public transportation.
France’s Minister for Ecological Transition, Monique Barbut, said she was “horrified” by calls to install more air conditioning, insisting it should be reserved only for emergencies. Bureaucrats are more concerned with preserving ideology than allowing people to protect themselves. People should not be overheating to death in a developed nation.
Then came perhaps the most absurd comment of all. Paris Deputy Mayor Audrey Pulvar attempted to blame the United States for Europe’s heat wave, arguing that Americans bear “significant responsibility” because of their carbon emissions and widespread use of air conditioning. According to her logic, Americans cooling their homes are somehow responsible for French families suffering through extreme temperatures. Rather than asking why France spent years discouraging investment in reliable energy and practical infrastructure, politicians once again looked across the Atlantic for someone else to blame. That has become the standard playbook whenever government policy fails.
Marine Le Pen and the National Rally have called for a nationwide plan to equip schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and other public buildings with air conditioning, arguing that protecting people from extreme heat should take precedence over ideological objections. Meanwhile, much of France’s political left continues to portray widespread air conditioning as environmentally irresponsible, even as record temperatures expose the country’s lack of preparation. One side recognizes that governments have a responsibility to adapt to reality and protect their citizens. The other remains committed to climate doctrine, even when that doctrine leaves the elderly, children, and the most vulnerable suffering through dangerous heat because admitting they were wrong would undermine the entire climate agenda that has been pushed by the globalists for years.
I have said for years that climate change has become the perfect political tool because it allows governments to justify virtually any expansion of power. They tell farmers what they may grow, regulate fertilizer, attack livestock, close nuclear plants, restrict affordable energy, discourage air conditioning, and then claim these sacrifices are necessary to save the planet. Every crisis becomes another excuse for more regulation, more taxation, and more control over everyday life.
The Great Reset was never simply about reducing emissions. It is about changing the way people live. They want to dictate what you drive, what you eat, how you heat or cool your home, how much energy you consume, and ultimately how much of your standard of living you are willing to surrender in the name of climate. The people promoting these policies rarely live under the same restrictions. They fly private jets to climate conferences while telling everyone else that air conditioning has become a luxury.
France has spent years regulating and discouraging the installation of air conditioning in the name of climate policy. Strict building regulations have favored passive cooling measures over mechanical air conditioning, while environmental policies and energy-efficiency rules have made installation more costly and, in many older buildings, considerably more difficult. Now, as record heat places millions at risk, those same policies have left much of the population without one of the most effective tools for protecting themselves. This is what happens when ideology replaces common sense. Government believed it could regulate the climate by regulating how people cool their homes, and ordinary citizens are paying the price.
As America marks its 250th anniversary, the country should be celebrating one of the greatest political experiments in human history. Instead, nearly one in five Americans say they do not plan to celebrate Independence Day, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. The survey also found that two in five Americans doubt the United States will even endure another 250 years. Those numbers should concern everyone regardless of political affiliation because they point to something far deeper than disagreement over one election or one president.
The Reuters report illustrates just how fractured the country has become. Some residents interviewed said they would not celebrate because they object to the current administration, while others argued that Independence Day should transcend politics altogether. The fact that Americans can no longer agree on celebrating the nation’s founding tells you how deep the divide has become.
This is not new. I previously wrote about the collapse in national pride, and the numbers showed exactly where the fracture is taking place. Only 29% of Democrats said they were extremely or very proud to be American, compared with 90% of Republicans. Among younger Americans, the figure was only 36% for those aged 18 to 34, while 75% of Americans 65 and older still expressed strong pride in the country. That is the generational and political divide our computer has been warning about. A nation cannot survive when one side is taught to despise its own founding while still demanding the constitutional protections that founding created.
Those who say they hate America fail to appreciate the freedoms that allow them to express that opinion in the first place. The right to criticize the government, organize protests, publish unpopular views, vote against those in power, and openly challenge public officials is protected by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In many countries throughout history, and even today, such actions could result in imprisonment or worse. That does not mean America is without flaws, but it does mean the liberties established at the nation’s founding remain exceptional. Once people begin taking those freedoms for granted, they also risk overlooking how difficult they are to preserve when political divisions deepen and confidence in institutions continues to erode.
Civil unrest always rises during periods of economic stress. Political polarization is not the disease. It is the symptom. Governments burdened by unsustainable debt, inflation, declining living standards, and a loss of confidence eventually divide their own populations. Every major empire reached the point where citizens increasingly identified with political factions rather than the nation itself. That is when fragmentation begins.
Many people today exercise freedoms that only exist because of the principles established in 1776 and later protected by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The freedom to criticize the government, protest elected officials, publish unpopular opinions, and vote for change are constitutional protections that have distinguished the United States from many governments throughout history. The Declaration of Independence itself was a protest against government authority, and the Constitution was designed to limit the power of the state rather than the people.
This is why the 250th anniversary should not become another partisan event. Whether one supports or opposes the current administration is irrelevant. The institutions created by the Founders have survived civil war, economic depressions, world wars, and political upheaval because they were designed to withstand disagreement. Once citizens stop viewing themselves as part of the same republic and begin seeing political opponents as enemies, the foundations of that constitutional system begin to weaken.
Former Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, gives a speech outlining the mechanics of the Deep State and how the people within it operate.
At around 3:30 of the presentation, Gabbard gives a specific example of the attitude of the employees on assignment to the ODNI. Obviously, I am not certain, but Tulsi seems to be describing the FBI liaison desk within the DNI as she explains how this federal government employee refuses to participate in the DNI request. Listen and you gain an appreciation of the challenge that exists for any appointed leadership. WATCH:
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